Metro Washington Council afl-cio

In a legal win for workers and unions, the National Labor Relations Board is sharply curbing employer justification for hiring and using “permanent replacements” for workers forced to strike for economic reasons. In a 2-1 decision on May 31, involving the Piedmont Nursing Home in Oakland, Calif., and SEIU/United Health Care Workers West, the board majority said employers must prove they do not have other, illegal, motives for permanently replacing striking workers. That replacement threat has had a chilling effect on the right to strike, which is legal under U.S. labor law. The number of strikes has dropped precipitously since employers began routinely firing striking workers and bringing in “permanent replacements,” or threatening to, after President Ronald Reagan fired striking PATCO air traffic controllers in 1981. - Mark Gruenberg, PAI